Gerber and Jack-son 1993

T he relationship between mass and elite opinion is a central issue to the study of voting behavior, parties and elections, public opinion, and representation in democratic systems. For a variety of theoretical reasons, scholars expect elite opinion to affect mass attitudes and behavior. The literatures on priming, persuasion, and cue taking all offer theoretical accounts about how elite opinion shapes how voters approach public policy issues and what attitudes they adopt. In contrast, much of the theoretical literature on representation and electoral competition tells the opposite story: party and elite policy positions respond to voter policy preferences. This reciprocal relationship raises fundamental methodological problems in attempting to isolate empirically the effect of elite communication on public opinion. While a great deal of research has recognized and attempted to address this problem (for further discussion and examples, see, e.g.